Can't Be Wasted
by TheRunawaySavior
Summary: When a young boy finds himself on a world unlike Earth, he realizes his differences could change everything. Ready to take on the world, Steven and his newfound cast of characters go on adventures in this epic tale, Can't Be Wasted!
1. Starfall Basin Battle-cry!

**Can't Be Wasted**

 _ **TheRunawaySavior**_

 _Before I begin, I just want to welcome you to the world of 'Can't Be Wasted'! Here, I've decided to take the time and recreate the world of Mira, but now, grit is a thing. It's not the stats and health of the people in this world that keep them living. Similar but unique to real life, this world thrives upon willpower and effort._

 _For anyone new to this story, who'd like to begin reading ASAP, I do warn you that there is an OC. Not like 'Cross' OC but more along the lines of a fleshed-out character that would add balance and variety into the world._

 _For any returning readers to this story, I'm_ _fixing the story as a whole. As such, Chapter 4 will become what Chapter 3 was beforehand. If you want to reread, that's fine, just don't become so salty that you could turn a lake into an ocean when you realize I didn't change TOO much._

 _And please, make sure to RnR, I'd really appreciate the support, and I hope you have a good day!_

 ** _A_ _rc 0: Prologue_**

 _ **Chapter 1: Star-fall Basin Battle-cry**_

"Attention: external access confirmed."

"Disengaging stasis in ten seconds..."

"Nine..."

"Eight..."

"Seven..."

"Six..."

"Five..."

'… What?'

"Four..."

'What?! What is this?!

"Three..."

'Where am I?!'

"Two..."

'Why can't I talk?!'

"One..."

If only I knew then what was ahead of me…

Who am I kidding? I wouldn't have cared.

* * *

"Beep..beep..beep..beep..beep.." I look down to see my hand. It looked thinner compared to the hand I was used to seeing, like I hadn't eaten for some time. The beeping continues, as I look down even further to see that I'm standing, and that I'm wearing some kind of uniform. It consists of some yellow t-shirt that just perfectly fit my body and dark pants with a belt that had attachments I wasn't familiar with. As I stretched for the first time in who-knows-when, the fabric of the skin-tight tee shifted with me. Moving around a little more, the cloth seemed to loosen from the inside a bit, while keeping it's tight stature on my body.

In other words, it felt weird.

"Click!" I turn my body to realize I was in a small container. Shifting my hands around the dark room, the cold metal and plastic of the wall's machines felt rough underneath my thinning skin. A slight humming rose underneath my feet as lights from the computers that surrounded me lit up in unique ways, like from a science-fiction movie or something.

"Releasing hatch: Please stand clear." The quick reaction of my body was stronger than the will of my mind, so I flinched in great pain, as the back of the room opened up with a blazing light that forced me to look back with a scowl. A powerful headache set ablaze within my skull as the light and muggy temperature of the outside forced me to crouch away from the door, almost slamming my head into the new back of the area.

"Ow!" I whined in pain as the headache grew even larger, forcing me to slam into the back of the machine, making it hurt even more.

"Are you okay?!" A delicate yet fearful call came from the outside, where all the stress in my head built up. At first, I was concerned. 'Who is this person? Are they concerned for me?' and '… Did I know the person?' were all questions that filled my head. It took a good while, but one question came to mind that forced me to suck all the pain up.

'Does this person have answers? Can he/she explain all this?'

Taking a deep breath, I clenched my eyes as tight as I could before slowly climbing up from my crouch. 'One deep breath after another…' I though as I shifted my hands to the wall, just to make sure my balance was steady enough.

"Hello?" The voice was feminine, I could confirm that now. It was much more steady and strong than the delicate concerned tone of the last thing she said. But I couldn't focus on her then. I was only halfway up. The muscles underneath my knees and in my thighs were stressing themselves out the more I used them to push up, forcing me to push upwards with my arms.

"Hold on..." I could finally talk. With all my strength, I pushed back the urge to strain my voice and talk to the lady, and focused more on reaching my height. After another moment of pushing forward, I was three-fourths the way there.

"Almost… there!" I squealed with some of my last bits of energy as I pushed through one final charge of ground-breaking pain that now echoed through all of my body. But I didn't care. I NEEDED to know what was going on. For all I knew, this could be a joke of a dream or some sort.

And there. I was at the top, standing as upright as I could. My legs and arms barely held me up, but there was enough of a relaxing moment to take in deep breaths. They felt so good compared to hell.

After recovering from the moment, I shifted my focus towards the light coming in from the other side. As I turned around and calmed myself a bit, I could hear the quiet sound of raindrops clapping on top of the room. Once I faced the light dead-on, I held onto the sides of the door before opening my eyes once again. The pain coursed through my body once again, but I gripped the door tight enough so I could adjust my eyes.

Soon, the scene started to shift. I wasn't looking at just a burst of light. The silhouette of a young woman began to form in the light, as shadows of trees and raindrops in the background set the mood. After another moment, color grew within my eyes giving more detail to the world. I started to see the face that was in front of me, and I was finally able to see what the world was like, for the first time in who-knows-when.

"Hey there… looks like you're all in one piece. As the colors of the light saturated my eyes, I could finally start to see the lady in front of me. While my eyes still needed adjusting, from what I could tell she was in her mid-twenties and had shoulder-length snow-white hair. Her clothes looked like a red suit, with several other colors mixed I along the waistline and back to normal by her legs, but they were too detailed to get an accurate description at a first glance.

She shined a small flashlight around the interior of the space I was in, before putting it within a concealed pocket to the left of her waist. The steady sounds of rain slowly filled my ears as the level of sound grew until I could hear it perfectly.

Without time to react, my legs gave out, forcing me to fall out of the room.

"Careful..." The lady spoke after catching my body adrift, before slowly steadying me back up. "Just it nice and slow, okay? Your senses'll need time to reactivate."

As I was being pulled up from the ground, I got a good view of the world in front of me. I couldn't see far, but the colors of green and the outlines of thin trees gave me the impression we were within some form of forest. Before pulling me back up fully, I got a good look at the lady's face. She had a slightly-dark olive skin tone and shimmering blue eyes. She looked to me with concern as I pulled back from her embrace, trying desperately to stand on my own.

Let's just say it didn't work out.

"You must really want to get up." She whispered. "Can you talk? I heard you say something earlier."

"I can tAlk." My voice cracked as I tried to speak, forcing a strong pain within my throat. Once again, I tried to get up, but my noodle-legs forced me to collapse for the third time.

"I wouldn't talk now." She spoke with concern, yet held a steady confirmation in her voice, like she knew everything was going to be okay. "You were in there for a while. It really takes a toll on the body when you're trapped in a place like that for so long."

Once back up, I tried for the fourth time to get up, but this time I used the exterior of the room to balance myself as I went up. Feeling in my legs and arms came to me as I pushed forward, and soon enough, we were both standing equally. Of course, she was taller than me, but still.

"I'll talk wheN I wanna tAlk." I tried to speak, but the cracks in my voice broke stronger than before. I cleared my throat before speaking, "Who are you?"

She gave me a warm smile. "My name's Elma. You wanna tell me yours?" I hesitated for a moment, as I really couldn't remember my name. I tried to nod, but right before a wave of information hit me. A wave of questions that I could finally answer.

"My… m-my name's Steven. I-I'm fourteen, and the last thing I remember is a man talking to me."

"Talking to you about what?" She looked to me in concern.

"I don't know, but it feels important. WheRe are we, Elma?"

Her face grew slightly grim before going back to that warm emotion. "This place, people like to call Star-fall Basin."

* * *

Now being able to get a good look at her clothes, it was a mix in style of cos-players' dreams and actual clothing. The top part of her clothes looked like a blur of perfectly placed white lines adorning a red shirt, that blended in with a skintight suit of black and purple that showed of in her waist and upper thigh, her hands and her lower arms. Embezzled with a unique yellow gem underneath her neck, she also had two belts strapping her whole suit together. One was on her waist, also doubling as the storage pack she put her flashlight in, and one under her… chest. Yeah. And finally, it would be blasphemous not to mention the cherry-red metallic leggings and white-metallic heels that together made up her legs.

Now, with a clear idea of who I was with and the environment I was treading through, I could begin my journey.

"So you don't remember anything?" Elma questioned. "I'll try to catch you up to speed as soon as I can. Are your limbs feeling better?" She spoke over the rain, which had grown stronger since my awakening.

"Absolutely." I said, as I stretched all the time I spent in the capsule away.

"Then I guess we should get going. Here, take this." Saying that the realization that she handed me a gun was a bit of a bombshell would be the understatement of the year compared to what I felt.

"What's this?" I ask, with a bit of concern.

"That..." She pondered for a second, before getting back to me. "That, is a Proto Assault Rifle. You might want to reload that before heading onto the field, Steven. It might get dangerous."

"I don't mean the gun itself! Why's this place so dangerous?"

She gave me a heartbroken look. "You don't remember, do you?" I give her a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing!" Quickly reverting back to her kinder self again, she shifted her index finger as she walked away, telling me I should follow along.

"Wait!" I called out. She turned to me with a curious expression as I handed her back the gun. "I don't use guns."

She gave me the most mind-boggled look of the day. "What do you mean, 'You don't use guns'?"

"I mean, I get a bad feeling when holding the gun. I can't remember too much of what happened before this and that doesn't scare me. But, when I held that gun, I FELT the past hit me, and it didn't feel good."

Her look shifted from 'mind-blown' to 'I-don't-trust-you' within a matter of seconds. "In other words, you don't want the gun?"

"Pretty much."

Reverting back to a 'Casually-serious' look, Elma took the gun back and replaced it with a small dagger. "You still need to protect yourself." She cautiously said. "This is a Proto Knife. USE IT." With nothing left to say, we both started down the trail, heading towards an intersection in the canyon that surrounded the land on all sides. Looking around then, it was pretty obvious there was only one way out.

'I wonder where we're going…' Popped into my head, and it really did make me wonder. Was the place we were going to any good? Would the people there be friendly or savage? What was I doing in the capsule to deserve a guide to this place? All these questions and more raged on within my head as we came closer and closer to the gap. I knew I needed to ask something soon, so I asked what came to the top of my head.

"What's that?" I pointed to the right of the opening, where a large machine lay in relaxation. Slowly, we came up to the machine and an explanation began over the sounds of the rain.

"Most of the White Whale's life-pods didn't survive the crash, like this one. You're one of the lucky few..."

"What?" I questioned, in complete curiosity for what her answer would be.

"Right – you don't even remember the White Whale, do you?"

"What's the 'White Whale'?"

The steadiness within her voice grew weary. Whatever the White Whale was, it was something to her.

"It was the ship we escaped Earth on."

If Elma had understood the gravity of that statement, then I bet she probably wouldn't have said it. It took a while, but the steady realization of what she meant drew me into a deep concern. "What do you mean, 'Escaped'?!"

She paused for a second. "So you remember Earth?"

"Of course I remember Earth! What do you mean by ESCAPED?!"

"… 'sigh'… It was caught in a battle between two alien forces… and destroyed. Their technology was far beyond our own, so the only thing we could do was leave. Now… we're here."

I bent down to the ground and plucked a blade of grass from the ground. "So you're saying this isn't grass?"

"What? No, this world is habitable, just like Earth. Its features may remind you of Earth, but once we get outside Star-fall Basin, you'll understand."

"No, I won't understand!" I yelled. "Do you understand how ridiculous you sound? I mean, 'alien forces' and 'destroying Earth' are just stuff out of the movies, right? Why should I believe you? For all I know, this could just be some prank. A very well executed prank at that, but..."

A loud shuffling came from a bush to the left of the canyon's gap. A second time it shuffled, before a large bug of sorts jumped out like a hunter of the forest, waiting for the perfect time to strike on its prey.

"What is that?!" I yell in complete confusion.

"They call it the Origin Blatta!" She called to me, before pushing me away from the beast's line of sight. "Be careful, you only have that dagger to protect you if things get dangerous."

As it came up to us, its true form exposed. Like a darkened ladybug the size of a leopard, its shimmering wings unfolded as its bangs clashed together with an irritating howl. Without hesitation, Elma pulled out two rifles strapped to her back and aimed them both at the beast.

"I assume you wouldn't wanna fight, so get out of here!" She pushed me aside before firing her first shots. Startling the enemy, Elma dashed towards the canyon's exit, making sure its attention was still on her. Before long its vision was completely off me, yet at what cost.

"Watch out!" She fired several more shots that were in the bug's and my direction, forcing me to dash behind the machine. As I patiently waited behind safety, more and more shots were fired, before I heard the sound of mechanical whirling. Taking a peak from the spot I was in, Elma had now switched to a dual-wielding sword that looked as though it was made from scrap metal.

"Shadow Strike!" Her swords began to glow, before she dashed higher in the air than the beast even was, doing several spins within the air before thrusting the swords into the back of the beast. Besides BLOWING MY MIND, the attack was just as effective as the rest, with the beast knocking her off a second later.

"The shell!" A broken piece of the bug's facial shell had broken off, allowing for a weak point to be exploited. "Go for where the broken shell was!" She looked at me from across the area, before the beast charged forward and knocked Elma off her feat. "ELMA!"

Without hesitation, I broke away from my hiding space before yelling, "HEY UGLY!" The Blatta and Elma both turned towards me, both with complete shock.

"Get back!" She called, with complete fear in her tone. "You can't fight that thing!" All I did was bend my knees down a hair before analyzing the beast. Ready to charge, the broken shell came off to the right of its face, a perfect aiming point for a right-handed fellow such as myself. "Please, get back! You're too weak from the stasis for this!"

"Don't you understand, Elma!" I called to her over the intensity of the rain, with just enough strength in my voice to let her know I was serious. "You don't need guns..." At this moment, both me and the Blatta broke into a mad dash for each other, with only one claiming victory for the charge. As the distance between the two of us shrunk, I finished my cry before driving the dagger into the skin of the beast.

"You don't need guns to protect your friends!"

* * *

As the great strength of the rain slowly weakened to a mild drizzle, Elma lay propped behind a flat rock to the left of the canyon's exit, while I quietly sat with the broken machine as a resting point. Several meters in front of me, lay the corpse of the Origin Blatta, the dagger still pierced through its skin.

"So, you aren't kidding about Earth being blown up?

"To be honest, that's a day I wish I could forget. I mean, we lost everything."

"Sounds rough. And I've been meaning to ask, who's 'we'?"

She gave me a smile from across the field. "The people that resided on the White Whale, our ship from Earth to here, the planet Mira. Of course, the equivalent of a city's population isn't all we had. When the ship came crashing down here, bits and pieces broke off, including the storage units that were hosting passengers."

I looked towards the machine. "So you're saying there's a person in there?"

Her expression became ever more grim. "If there was anybody in there, the lack of power wouldn't have kept them alive for very long. I'm lucky I found ANYONE here in Star-fall."

The realization that I was partially a lone survivor in some freak accident to Earth really put things in perspective. I bet if I didn't see that bug, I'd still be denying I was away from Earth, hoping for even a second longer my adventure didn't begin as confusing as this.

"We should get going." Elma said, as we both got up from our spots. As she started of into the corridors of the gap, she stopped before commenting, "And thanks, Steven. From the way you were acting, you felt like some kid. Which you ARE, but it took real courage to stand up for me like that."

"No problem! Glad I could help!" She gave me a warm smile, before we both started off down the winding corridor of the pathway. With nothing behind me then, all I could do was really look forward. 'For what?', you may ask. I was looking forward to a future unlike any other.

 _Thank you SO MUCH for reading! I hope this is only the beginning in a great adventure!_


	2. Starfall Basin Escape!

**Can't Be Wasted**

 **TheRunawaySavior**

 _Welcome one, welcome all, to the second chapter of Can't Be Wasted!_

 _Man, it feels so good writing again after that short break. I truly feel like I'm writing to complete my goals, rather than just checking things off a list and hoping the writing isn't crappy. For all I know, my writing's still that, but I'm enjoying myself a lot more, so that's good!_

 _I'm writing this right after posting the last chapter, so if anyone's liked this story or given me a good comment, I'll mention them either at the end of this chapter or the beginning of chapter 3._

 _Now, onto the story itself. Last time, a boy named Steven awakens from a Stasis Pod on an unbeknown planet, with no one to trust but a woman named Elma. After battling with a strange creature known as the Origin Blatta, the two agree to head to where the rest of humanity resides._

 _This time, our two main characters travel through the rest of Star-fall Basin, learn more about the world and its inhabitants, and make a daring escape when things get too rough!_

 _I really hope you enjoy this next chapter, and if you do, please show your support by following this story or commenting about what you thought was good (or bad!). Until next time, stay fresh!_

 _ **Arc 0: Prologue**_

 _ **Chapter 2: Star-fall Basin Escape**_

"Man, this is cool!" Looking into the opened storage unit, a found a slightly soggy vest that was just slightly bigger than my body size.

"I think that's a Prototype Bodywear." Elma commented as I put it on. "A lot of the equipment that was made before the journey to Mira fits all. Don't worry about the size." As I slipped on the dark vest, a mini vibration formed within it, and by the time I had it on, the vest had now fit me perfectly.

"Cool!" As I turned to face my surroundings, the realization that it was still raining really hit me hard. "Oh come on! Why is it still raining?!"

"Don't complain." Elma commented. "We're almost there."

As we began on the path again, the scenery opened to a much more expansive area. The first half, which we were walking through then, was a plain-like area, with small patches of leafless trees hanging to the left and right of the path. Hills curved around the sides as blue crystals levitated around the wildlife inhabiting the first half.

"What are those crystals?" I asked, confused as to their nature in the new world.

"When the White Whale fell down to Mira, many of the supplies fell along with it. During the descent, loose materials must have molded a shell of sorts from the extreme heat of the fall and the unique atmosphere of Mira. I can't guarantee that's the reason the crystals are there FOR SURE, as we have found unknown supplies in them, but we've certainly found our lost materials in the process."

She nodded her head in the direction of the side-areas, allowing me to take the lead. As we approached a patch of aging trees, though, Elma halted me in my tracks. "Look." She whispered as best she could over the rain, pointing to the tops of the trees. While it wasn't obvious from a first glance, probably due to the darkness clouded in the area, the shadows of winged beasts started to form as I gave the area a closer inspection.

"Be careful." She warned. "The Miniature Adsecula that roam these parts have a nasty sting if hit. You took out that Blatta earlier, but unlike these guys, the Blatta' has a bark worse than its bite."

"I'll be careful." I confidently said, before slowly diving into the center of the trees for a blue crystal. Once next to it, I quickly snatched it from the air before crushing the gem in my hand. As the shards fell, a normal-looking object landed in the center of my palm. "It's… it's a cylinder." I looked blankly at the slightly-heavy steel cylinder, about the length of my hand, as Elma came to me slowly for a closer inspection.

"That isn't just a cylinder." Elma told me, as she pointed to a bit of faded writing, made even harder to read by the rain. "This is an L-002 Fuel Tank! I know a guy who needs a couple of these! He might pay a good price for it, Steven..." She gave me a happy expression as I pondered another thought.

"So you have an economy in this city we're going to?"

"Of course. We use a simple form of digital cash called Credits. That fuel tank usually goes for about 100 credits, or ten dollars in what once was the United States, but they're dead-out of them in the main shops, so you could probably walk away with 300 Credits if you know how to haggle."

"How do you manage Credits?"

"Here, pull out your Credit Tablet." We both stood there in an awkward silence as she realized I knew nothing about the tablet I supposedly possessed.

"You know the thick belt you're wearing?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"It's in the left slot." As I shifted to the left of my thick belt, sliding my thumb across the top of it, the indent of a button caught my senses' attention. Pushing on it, a small phone-sized tablet popped into my hand. Feeling sleek yet bendable, I turn it on to a colorful background and a single line of text.

'Credits: 0'

"Well, that answers my question, I guess."

"You use it like a debit card, Steven. As you gain Credits, they'll be stored on our servers, which can be accessed any time from that device." Noting the economy of the world I yet to see, I put the tablet back in its slot, before heading forward to the second half of the area, which was a small lake of sorts, with the pathway to continue forward stretching upwards on the other side. Moving forward for a few steps, I halted when I noticed the absence of Elma's presence.

"Steven!" I heard her call from behind me. The faint sound of buzzing coming towards me and the preparation of a gun really set the mood, as I slowly grabbed the handle of my Proto Knife. Closing my eyes, I felt the droplets of rain hitting my face as the buzzing grew closer and closer to me.

"I've got this!" Elma called to me.

"No! Hold back!" As the beast now lay a foot behind me in my mind, I extended my right arm in front of me, before pulling back and calling,

"You're not the only one that can do flashy attacks, Elma! I call this one, Slit Edge!" With all my might, I pivoted on my left foot before swinging the dagger in a horizontal line, knocking back what appeared to be a bee-like enemy a little bit back. With no time to waste, I dashed out of the area before screaming, "Now! Fire!"

Within a matter of moments, the sounds of a barrage of bullets piercing the beast filled my eardrums, as the beast staggered in its placed, becoming completely owned by the two of us. Realizing its weak stature, I waited until Elma's second round was done before dashing back into the action.

"I got this, Elma. Special Attack, Assault Hammer!" First giving it another horizontal strike, I then attacked with a powerful diagonal slash, knocking the beast to the ground.

"You got it toppled!" Elma called. "Get back!" She held up a small sphere, before motioning me to get back. "I can finish this thing!"

"Okay!" Getting back to my original hiding spot close to the second half of the area, Elma tossed the sphere, which slowly rolled until hitting the beast. After the beast tried to get back up, the sphere vibrated strongly for a second, before exploding in a big mass of fire. Once the strongest point in the fire had been reached, it slowly died down over the rain's water. Soon, there was nothing left but the dead body and a pile of ash.

"Jeez, that took me by surprise." I rubbed the top of my head in confusion as Elma looked at the dead animal.

"Good thing these guys barely care what's going on, or we'd have a whole swarm of them on our heels right about now. We should get going, Steven. The indigen in this area may be easy enough to handle with, but I can't be certain it'll stay that way."

"You're right." As we headed off towards the lake in the second half, a noticeable buzzing occurred from Elma. Looking to her, she gave me an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, my communicator's going off." Quickly, she reached for her right belt, where she pulled out a phone-like device. Not even needing to hold it up o her head, Elma spoke. "Elma here. You copy?"

"Yes." A female voice came from the other side. "I'm here to give you a special report. There seems to be signs of a fugitive running towards Star-fall Basin, with a highly over-powered indigen tagging along behind him."

The information hit Elma like a ton of bricks. "What crime did this man commit?" She spoke, with caution running throughout her voice.

"This man abandoned his crew while in a confrontation with the beast in question. Leaving them to die, he hopped off the grid and ran. Luckily, one of the other crew members was here to report the information. From the way it looks, it doesn't seem safe for you and whomever you're with."

* * *

 **"** One way in, one way out." Elma told me. "What we're dealing with, I don't know, but we might have to hide if whatever coming for us it stronger than we realize."

"Relax, Elma." I told her calmly. The guy that we're gonna meet is probably just some newbie who got scared and ran. I mean, it can't be THAT dangerous, can it?"

Of course, my question was promptly followed by a ferocious roar in the distance.

"What are we gonna do?" I broke into a panic, now understanding the seriousness of the scenario. "I can't die now! If this is real life, I'm gonna be digested by a giant monster and killed! And if this is all a dream… At best I turn this into a plot for a mediocre novel."

"Be quiet!" Elma called to me, as we both listened intently to the sounds in the distance. For a while, all I heard was the rain. Slowly but surely, though, the growing sound of a man screaming caught the attention of the two of us.

"Someone! Someone help! Please!" Looking towards the top of the hill where the exit lay, a younger man came running down, not even wasting any time by jumping into the lake.

"Well, this looks promising." I noted, before the steadily approaching sound of a rumbling came from the direction of the exit.

"Steven, get out your Credit tablet. Now!" With my tablet out and Elma with her communicator out, she gave me a serious look. "Listen to me, Steven. I'm gonna need you to hold your breath under the water, and don't come out until it's safe or you think you're going to die from a lack of oxygen."

"On it!"

As the hysterical man came out from the lake, Elma pointed to where we came from.

"That way, sir, quickly! There's a safe haven up ahead where you can recover!" Without any hesitation, the man gave her a 'thank you' look before running off into the rain. "Now, Steven!"

With no time to spare, we dashed down the hill which we stood on, running past sleeping beasts that resembled boars. Barely taking any note of what was around me, though, we both jumped into the depths of the lake, deep breaths in our lunges.

Completely submerged, the vibration of the beast's footsteps amplified as I turned on the tablet, giving me a visual of Elma, who was somewhere to the left of me. Looking around, the only things that really were to make note of as the beast grew closer and closer were the sandy floors and the small fish.

Or at least, that's what I would've said if I didn't notice a glimmer of sand from my light.

'...BUM BUM BUM'

Running out of oxygen, I shine my light over to Elma, who seemed to be doing perfectly fine. Giving me a look of confusion, we both froze as the darkening of a great shadow quickly passed over the lake. Nodding against the idea of going up for air, I was running out of it. In a slow swimming motion, I rose my head above the water to reveal a creature of great power looking towards a set of trees near the area I was found in.

With the figure of a wolf, and the skin of some sort of beast, it's head was the most crucial point in my mind, at least. A mixture between a wolf's head and a BURNING wolf's head, the top half of the head was plated with a steel helmet meshed together with the skin. The beast's thighs meshed with its veins, creating a purple, vein-like muscle that could be seen from any of the four grotesque and hunching legs.

Plus, it looked bigger than a truck. It was probably bigger, but still.

Raising its hunched head high into the air, the beast released a howl so ferocious that I had to go back down under the water, in complete fear that the howl was a battle cry.

Once underneath the water once again, I looked and found Elma still holding her own underwater. Looking around once again, I noticed the object from earlier had become more visible. Now the shining reflection of a button could be seen from the light. Swimming down to the bottom of the lake, I shifted the sand in the area over as fast as I could, revealing an entire panel of buttons. It took a moment, but then I knew there was only one place I'd seen that panel before.

When getting out of my stasis pod earlier, I held onto the panel's buttons to support my body when my legs couldn't. The machine underneath the lake was a stasis pod.

"MM-ME!" With all my might, I called Elma over. Once she swam to my area, a look of shock came over her face as she lightly touched the buttons. After realizing what it was, Elma pointed upward, telling me to check on the beast.

Once above water, I looked around the land and air to see that it was gone. In the distance, I heard a savage cry from the man that ran earlier, probably being eaten alive. Forgetting about that, I swam back down, trying my best to say 'You got time, but not much' in hand gestures.

As soon as she understood, her hands flew across the keyboard, inputting a password of some sorts. Once done with that, she hit a confirm key, causing a large buzzing noise to echo through the vastness of the underwater. A large opening emerged to the left of the keyboard, with Elma diving into retrieve what was in there immediately. We knew the inside wasn't flooded as there were large quantities of water flowing into the room.

After a few seconds of patience, Elma dove out the pod with a body which I couldn't make out from a first glance. Quickly swimming up to help her, we got the body out of the water and threw it upon the land closest to the exit, in case we needed a quick escape.

Getting a closer look at the body, it looked to be a she, about 17-18, wearing similar clothes to mine, except sporting a green shirt instead of a yellow one. Her body itself was thin and pale, just like mine, and, in case you were wondering (which I wonder why…), but her 'things' were about the same size as Elma's.

Her face, while pale, still seemed more lively than the rest of her body, with rich brunette hair reaching down to her upper neck, full lips, a few freckles here and there near her simple nose and beautiful red eyes.

"She's alive."Elma mentioned after checking her pulse. "Problem is, all that time being under water must have messed with the stasis pod, as it looks like she won't wake up anytime soon."

"What does that mean for us?" The sound of a ferocious roar clouded the rainy skies as the gods of this new world saw it fit to answer my question.

"Grab her legs, Steven, and help me out. We're getting this girl out of here, and I know how." The sounds of the beast's great footsteps clapped like thunder over the rain as we lifted up the body and made our way up the hill, where a pathway carved from the canyon's life lay. As we made it through the exit, though, I gave the places behind me one last look, and in the distance, the great wolf-beast emerged from the first area of Star-fall Basin, blood staining the lower and more disgusting part of its face.

"Run!" I called to Elma, as we both stepped up the pace, leaving Star-fall Basin and everything It'll stand for me in this new world, gone amongst the light winds of this never-ending rain. Going up a slight incline and passing by some form of Blatta corpses among other dead creatures, the sound of the beast's footsteps getting closer and closer haunted the both of us until I saw it.

"There! Elma, I'm sure of it when I say that's the exit!" Looking forward, I saw clearly the canyon opening into some form of cliff side, with a pathway down to match out of my vision. Running as fast as we both could, the two of us reached the cliff side area, along with the scenic view that was impossible to see in the great rain.

"Put her down!" Elma called to me, as the beast turned the corner, making our distance only a good kilometer away. As the beast let out one more ferocious roar, forcing me to collapse on the ground in weakness, Elma stood, Flame Grenade in hand. "I hope this works… Flame Grenade!"

Tossing the sphere to the merging point of the canyon and the cliff side, it promptly blew off chunks of the right side of the canyon wall. While it took a second, soon, mounds and mounds of the rock that surrounded me and Elma now began to block the only way out of the place. Even rocks from the left side fell, creating a massive wall that was as tall as the exit was, about three stories or so.

"The Wild Grex cannot climb." Elma told me.

"What?"

"That beast, they call it the Wild Grex, part of the Grex family. Not many have accounted the beast's existence, but it is known within all of the Grex family that they can't climb steep inclines."

"The more you know. So, back to the important things, why the heck was there a girl at the bottom of the lake?!" We both looked to the girl, who still seemed to be unconscious.

"Now that I'm thinking about it, Steven, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, the crater that forms from the stasis pods either make large indents into the ground, or create craters. If the stasis pod was in created a large enough crater, then it would've held all the rainwater coming through the area. And in case you didn't get it yet, Steven, it rains a lot more here than anywhere else in Primordia, the continent we're on."

"In other words, we would have never known that the girl was in there if I hadn't seen her?"

"Exactly. Thanks, Steven." She patted me on the head, before looking back towards the girl. Placing her hand on the top of her chest, she slowly applied and released pressure. "If she could just wake up…" Muttering to herself, she applied pressure a couple more times before the body flinched. We both paused for a second, as the girl flinched again.

"She's almost awake." We both knew this, and Elma took quick action into applying pressure some more, before the girl finally opened her eyes.

"Yes! She's awake!" I cheered on, but Elma was quick to give me a dirty look.

"Quiet!" She lashed out at me, before I backed up to watch the girl awaken. Looking around, the girl slowly rose from her spot, fumbling along the way a little bit, before being able to stand up fully upright. With Elma's help, of course.

"Are you okay?" Elma questioned. "You went through some pretty rough things a little while back." The girl silently checked her limbs, making sure each one was working properly and unharmed. Soon enough though, all her limbs had been checked, and she gave a thumbs up to show she was fine.

"Good." Elma whispered, as the strength of the rain wore thinner than before. "My name's Elma, and this is Steven." I gave her an enthusiastic wave before her focus returned to Elma. "Do you mind sharing your name?"

Silenced followed as a look of grieving formed on her face. She couldn't' even remember her own name.

"You can't even remember your name!?" The words flew out of my mouth, with Elma giving me a look showing she wanted to say the same. Remaining calm, Elma gave the girl an apologetic look.

"Your memories will come, I'm sure of it." As she spoke, the rain finally cleared up, leaving nothing but fog to cover all the areas surrounding us. Slowly walking forward, I passed by the two girls to take a seat on the edge of the cliff.

"What are you doing?" Elma questioned.

"I'm just waiting. Once the fog clears, I'm gonna take this whole world in. I wanna see it all."

"You won't be able to see the whole world from here, Steven. There are five continents that make up the land, and you'll only be able to see half of this place with the colony in the way."

"This colony must be big, for it's view on a cliff side to cover up half a continent." Shifting my focus slightly, I noticed the girl just standing there, feeling out of place. "Hey! Don't get sad on my watch, y'hear?" I gave her a serious look, as Elma quietly motioned for me to cut it out, afraid of what I was gonna say.

"I promise you, that even if you don't have any idea what's going on, I'll be there to help you. Understand?" Giving me a look of confusion, she soon noticed the seriousness hidden within my eyes. Making sure not to take my gave off her, I got up and walked over to her, extending my arm out when I stopped. "Understand?"

It took a while, filled with nothing but pure silence, but she came to understand I wasn't joking, and shook my hand, giving me a warm smile as a sign of our agreement.

"But seriously, though, you have a lot to catch up on. I mean…" As I continued to ramble on about my adventures to the girl, a thought struck her, forcing me to be silent. Patiently waiting, she lost herself in her mind for a moment before looking to me.

"My…" She tried to talk, but she had the same throat strain as me from when I first woke up. "My nAme… my naMe is…" She released her tension.

"Take your time." I told her. With one final breath, the girl put all her effort into calmly speaking the one line.

"My name is Cross. I can't really remember anything else, though."

"There we go!" I patted her on the back, before looking out into the distance. The fog had cleared up slightly, allowing us to see the shadows of great mountains in the distance, along with something else to the north. Something really, REALLY big.

"What's that, Elma?" I spoke as I pointed out into the distance. Giving it a close look, she almost-instantly knew what it was.

"Looks pretty big, doesn't it?" I nodded in agreement. "Well, inside that huge heap, is the city we're going to!" My mind literally blew up when the shadows resembling collections of MOUNTAINS was revealed to be the city. "Once this fog clears up, things will look up a bit better."

"Hopefully, Elma. Hopefully."

 _MAN did I have fun writing this one._ _I didn't even know I had it in me to write something else inside Star-fall Basin. Luckily, though, I was on a trip this weekend, and TONS of ideas came to me. Plus, I'm farther in the story, so I'll be trying my best to connect some things from later parts in the game, so…_

 _SPOILERS!_

 _While that may go without saying from this point on, I'm gonna try my best to thank everyone who reads this story. Make sure to have an awesome day, and I've already planned Ch.3, so all I need to do is write it. Take care._


	3. Shadow Rise and The Identity!

**Can't Be Wasted**

 _ **TheRunawaySavior**_

 _I guess it's time to begin, right?_

 _Welcome back to Can't Be Wasted! Last time, Steven and Elma received a report from the city of humans that a man was being chased by a great beast into Star-fall Basin. While hiding from what Elma described as the, 'Wild Grex', Steven finds another stasis pod buried underneath a lake. Inside, a woman lay unconscious, forcing Elma and Steven to carry her out of Star-fall Basin before the beast could find them._

 _Once out of Star-fall Basin, with its entrance being blocked up after an avalanche, the girl awakens, revealing that all she can remember is her name: Cross. Not wanting her to be confused about the world, Steven offers to protect her in the new world, and so they agree to be friends. Now, the three lay at the edge of a cliff for the fog covering the land to unveil itself._

 _This time, the cast of characters head off after seeing the beautiful sights of Shadow Rise, and take a bit of a detour once Steven learns he has a past._

 _(P.S...SPOILERS!)_

 _. . . . ._

"...Elma?" I looked towards the eldest of the bunch as we slowly waited for the fog covering the land to fade away, or be blown along.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that guy died? The one that brought the Wild Grex to Star-fall?"

With my attention and the focus of Cross, who'd been trying to relax on the ground for some time, Elma pulled out her communicating tablet from earlier.

"Looks like he made it out alive. At least, that's what his report says."

"Good. It'd be terrible if he died with hope." Elma gave me a smile.

"I guess you're right. We did just leave him to die. I guess we just got caught up in trying to live until night."

"Yeah, that's probably it."

 _ **Arc 0: Prologue**_

 _ **Chapter 3: Shadow Rise and the Identity**_

"Looks like a lot of wind's coming from the west." Elma noticed, as the dense fog clouding all below and above us started to shift away towards the city. As the three of us sat at the edge of the cliff, ready to take in the view, the first thing I noticed was the sun. Several beams of light shimmered through a patch of dense clouds as the wind picked up, pushing the fog farther and farther away from us. Soon, color and light were brought into the world, and DAMN was it beautiful.

The main point of interest, the city, was the first thing to be fully realized. With several grassy plains to the north of it (or my left), and a boundless ocean to the south of it, the greatness in scale that was the White Whale's city was a beautiful sight to see.

While you couldn't see the city itself from where we stood, it was very clear that the top of the gargantuan mechanism holding the city was nonexistent, meaning that clear skies and foggy nights could be seen from the comfort of society. As for the machine itself, it looked to be made of pure metals, with large working-machines, such as cranes, were straddled to the sides of it, leaving openings for doorways and such that couldn't possibly be seen from such a distance.

Surrounding the machine itself were a wide variety of large crystals, probably formed when colliding with the ocean on the way down. While they seemed very rough and deformed, you couldn't help but take in the sight's pure beauty.

As I tried to take in the rest of the land's beauty, however, a large but short-lived rumbling occurred, before the long neck and distorted face of a being similar to the long-necked herbivores of the dinosaur era rose up from the beach-like shores beneath us. Sporting a large red-and-gray boulder on its back, the main color of its skin were various shades of gray, sometimes mixing with a grayish-blue in the light. Near its head lay several large mushrooms, with its face itself shaped more like an arrow.

Stretching out, the beast shook its large neck before moving forwards to our left. Just watching the way it moved was so interesting and varied, and to give you a scale for measurement, the coast looked to be five stories down! Plus that long head, it gave the beast a real stature in the great fields and mountains surrounding it.

Looking over towards Elma and Cross, they both seemed to be blown away as well, with Cross giving off a more disbelieving vibe than anything. Just imagining a creature like that changing our perspectives on the life we'd known really made me wonder what else the planet had in store.

And just like that, the call of a large beast similar to a whale blared from behind us. Without any time to even turn around, a large flying beast, with a head and body similar to that of a whale, with the only difference in shape being the body was much more plump that the head. With its skin, however, it also sported a gray skin, with several wrinkly layers moving up towards the head of the body, mixed in with large blue orbs going in a line from its end to its head.

The wings. The freaking wings. They looked like the wings of a butterfly and some other insect combined. Delicate, shimmering, and even partially clear. But there were so many of them, ten if I counted right, and they were all so BIG. Shifting around to make the beast glide, they didn't look like the wings to hold that beast up, but they did.

The beast in question leaned to the right while entering the open space in front of us, turning towards the sea when trying to avoid the cliffs a good distance away from us, about a story down. Getting a good look at its features, I was then shifted to another one of the flying beasts, who soared above the cliff side the first one avoided, heading slightly to the left of the city. Once the first one joined up with him, a third one hiding behind the mountain-like areas beyond joined up with them as well.

Still feeling the rumbling of the first beast's footsteps, Elma called to me and Cross. "Pretty wild, huh?"

"That was SO cool! I mean, what were those things, and... and..." I just lost my mind trying to explain how I felt about the beasts of the planet. The only thing I could do was try to take in a much as I could, from everything.

With a large and powerful herd of Grex on the move to the left of the city, and forms of small cats playing farther down on the beach to my right, the life in the world just felt so real. Looking back to the whale-like creatures, they were now far in the distance, flying over an array of vast and tall mountains, littered with rocky pillars and patches of grassy plains. To the left of that and the furthest I could see left, was a great lake with four powerful waterfalls behind it, making for one hell of a view. The dinosaur-like beasts gathered in that area, drinking water from the great lake. It was all just so… different, that it caught my attention instantly.

This wasn't going to be something I could forget. Whatever life I had before, it had nothing on what lay ahead.

. . . . .

"So, what should we do first?" I gave a confident comment to the two females on my right, as they were both looking towards Elma's communicator screen. "Hey, guys?" Cross looked towards me with a confused expression, before looking back towards the tablet.

"What'cha looking at?" I sarcastically sung, before heading over to the two, placing my head between theirs to get a good look at what was on the tablet. Once I was comfortable, I noticed that the picture on the device was none other than me, giving a very blank expression in a mug shot-like pose. Below the picture was a block of text, giving me a full name, description and background.

"What's this?" I gave Elma a confused look.

"While you were looking out at the plains, I needed to send in a report. When I sent in a picture of you, they sent me this." She handed me the tablet, giving me a better look at the text below my name.

"Steven Cameron Regnad, Age - Fourteen. Being raised by a member of the United Nations, he was put to work on the White Whale before and during its launch, earning the official title of a White Whale crew member." Looking closely at the picture of myself as I read, there was a small emblem on my right chest, which was partially cut off.

"That's the uniform of a White Whale crew member..." Elma trailed off, looking at the device from behind me as I read aloud more of the text.

"Disappearance before the White Whale crashing led to the conclusion that he died protecting the White Whale from the alien invaders forcing the White Whale's decent to Mira, and was given a metal of honor before disappearing within the walls of text littering the books of NLA."

A short silence followed, before I jumped up in excitement. "That's SO COOL! Do I get any privileges, Elma? Do you think I'll meet any cool people back in the city that will remember me?" As I continued to ramble on, I noticed that Elma was giving me a slight look of concern. Slowly, I calmed down, allowing Elma to speak her mind. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing important. It's just..."

"Yes?"

She let out a sigh. "It's just that, I don't know how people would react to you still being alive. For one thing, there will be people that label you as a coward, since you're still living even after protecting the White Whale. Even after that, I know a lot of people who lost friends on the decent to Mira, and I've never heard of another underage crew members."

"Well, we won't know for sure until we get there!" Trying to remain optimistic, I looked around. "So… where do we go now?" Just trying to forget the fact I was an experienced crew member, Elma quietly pointed towards a pathway heading down the cliff side, towards a small base camp near the mountain with four waterfalls. "Well then, I guess it's settled." Taking Cross' hand, helping her up, I took the lead on the pathway towards the base camp. "We'll go to that base camp, see what's up, and then head for New LA!"

Faking an accepting expression, Elma remained quiet as I explained my enthusiasm to Cross, on the road to the Shadow Rise Base Camp.

 _And that's it for this time! I know this is a really short chapter compared to my first two, but a lot of dumb mistakes were made within the development of this chapter. I just wanted to get this out, and the final chapters of the prologue arc are all planned out._

 _Please, if you like this series, show your support by following. Or if you hate this series, you can comment down all the things you hate about the series, because that's called 'constructive criticism'._

 _Until next time!_

 _(P.S - No worries about chapter four coming out in August or anything like that, I just could never fit what I wanted to happen next into this chapter. At latest, chapter four will release by the end of the month.)_


	4. Base Camps and The Challenge!

**Can't Be Wasted**

 _ **TheRunawaySavior**_

 _And then there's chapter four. No joke, my computer won't let me title the file 'CBW Chapter 4', so I had to name it, 'Chapter4'. Maybe I was never meant to write a chapter four, but here we are now. Let's do this.  
_

 _Last time, Steven and company were watching from Shadow Rise as the rain cleared, revealing the continent of Primordia to Steven and Cross for the first time. Before they left, Elma sent in a report and received information on Steven, who is recorded in the White Whale's databases to have worked on the ship during its run and had sacrificed his life when the machine went down._

 _This time, the crew heads to the Shadow Rise Base Camp, where the three relax before Steven challenges one of the godly beasts of Mira, in an attempt to bring justice to nature and to prove himself._

 _(P.S – Spoilers!)_

"...It's been raining all day." Charles and Anthony sat on the steps going into the base camp's main room, watching the rain fall towards them.

"You think, Ant? YOU THINK?!" Charles punched the wall besides the main door, before looking towards his communicator device. After a few more moments of silence, he put the device away, slouching in the uncomfortable seat. "Dude... if it doesn't stop raining, I won't be able to give Olivia my gift back in NLA."

Anthony's immediate response was to slug the older of the two in the arm.

"It won't rain ALL day. Besides, it not like she'll blame you for trying to live another day, especially out here."

"You're right..." As the two gathered in a calm silence, the notice of a sillouette in the distance caught Charles' attention. "Hey! Hey, whoever you are, show yourself!" They got up from their dry spots in order to see that the person was Colonel Elma.

"Elma..." Anthony felt a mixture of emotions seeing the woman, while Charles almost made it impossible not to notice the two.

"Elma! Elma, hey! Over here! It's us! Charles and... Anthony."

"Hey, why'd you say my name like that?!"

"What do you mean, say y-"

"Boys?" The two of them turned to Elma, who carried a flashlight in her hand. "Why are you two out here? You do realize there's a room inside that building, right?" The two looked down in slight embarrassment.

"We know, but Sharla's getting into some, 'more fitting attire' and doesn't want us in there." Elma gave them a bit of a smirk.

"Oh, I see." She almost continued on her way, but Anthony called her back.

"Hey, wait!" Elma turned back to him. "Oh... um... what's with the rush? It's pouring rain, and there aren't that many things risking your life in this rain for." As the droplets hit the roof of the base harder than ever, making a small thumping sound in the background, Elma held up her communicator.

"A Reclaimer told me that there's a life pod in the back of Star-fall Basin, and its my job to reclaim them."

"Oh." As she went off, climbing the road towards Star-fall Basin, Charles slugged him in the shoulder.

"You really need a girlfriend, man. That way, you can work on your social skills."

"That's some really comforting advice." He gave Charles a tired pat on the shoulder, before the door behind them opened, revealing Sharla in her normal BLADE uniform.

"You might wanna get inside. I've been done for about five minutes, and you're soaking wet, so..." The two men looke to each other, before giving her big grins.

"You're right..." Charles started. "We ARE soaking wet."

"You know what, Sir Charles?"

"What, Sir Anthony?"

"I think she needs a HUG." The smiles on their faces grew even wider as they inched closer to the door.

"You wouldn't." They remained silent, as they got to the stairs. "No! No!"

 _ **Arc 0: Prologue**_

 _ **Chapter 4: Base Camps and The Challenge**_

"Here we are!" I looked towards the Shadow Rise Base Camp, which was now only a shed the size of a crate and a car. Behind the base lay another cliff, but beyond that was a huge field, separating us from the lake with four waterfalls behind it. Once the three of us made it to the base, Elma knocked on the door to find a young woman quickly open it.

"Company! Elma, it's you!" She gave Elma a sister-like hug, which Elma didn't give back. "It's been forever! Come in, sit down!" As she tried to get Elma in, I noticed the uniform she was wearing.

It appeared to be a standard type of protection uniform, consisting of navy blue pants and shirt, along with black leather armor pieces layered on top of that, covering her chest among several other places. For the most part, it seemed rather normal compared to the 'sexy iron-man' suit or whatever that Elma had going on.

"Hey, who's the girl and the kid?" She looked towards the two of us, a dark and concerned look covering her face.

"Oh, sorry about the lack of introduction, Sharla. This is Cross, and this is Steven. I Reclaimed them from Star-fall Basin." In an instant, the moody expression on Sharla's face switched to a very depressed one.

"Wait, there were TWO life-pods? I only found one!" Elma comforted her as Cross and I stood with a bit of awkward tension. "Where was the other one?"

"I found it at the bottom of the lake." Quickly entering the conversation, I walked up to Elma's right before looking inside the small cabin. "So... what is this place? Looks comfy." Sharla gave me a slightly annoyed look, before Elma held me back.

"He's the more excited of the two."

"I heard that!" Pushing through Elma's arm, I almost made it through her 'barrier', but a young man with the same uniform came out, a satchel hanging from his left shoulder and a gun on his back. He fixed his messy hair when he noticed Elma.

"Oh, hey Elma! How was the Reclaimer mission? Oh, so you found some younger recruits." He gave me a chill smile before patting me on the head. "You look pretty lucky, kid. Not many people under eighteen got on the White Whale." Without a moment to lose, he then pushed all of us aside, heading towards the capsule that held NLA.

"Where are you going, Charles?" Elma questioned. He paused for a moment, before turning back around.

"I'm calling my day off for tomorrow, to spend time with my girlfriend. Today's her birthday, y'know?"

"Oh yeah, Olivia. Tell her I said hi!" Elma pondered for a moment. "Wait, who's gonna take up the third position here in his place?" Sharla nudged her on the shoulder, giving her a secretive smile just to taunt her.

"The Reclaimer Jason is coming to help protect our base camp!" Sharla started jumping up and down in pure excitement, with Elma even looking a bit surprised.

"I didn't know he was certified to man a base camp."

"I know! And it's all thanks to you!" Sharla moved in and gave Elma a bear hug unlike any other.

"What do you mean, 'It's all thanks to me'?" She let out a little chuckle.

"I guess in your report earlier you talked about something called a 'Wild Grex' or whatever, and he's been working with some Harriers, trying to find the uncatalogued species in Primordia and bring proof to NLA. When I asked him about it over the communicator, he said this was the last species of Grex that hasn't been given enough proof to go into the files, so yeah."

"Man, I didn't know that thing was THAT rare." I gave Elma a questioning look. "So there are other types of Grex out there as well?" Before Elma had a chance to respond, Sharla butted in.

"Of course! There are at least five species of Grex in Primordia, not including tyrants."

"Tyrants?"

"You don't know what a tyrant is?" As she prepared to chew me out, I noticed Elma in the background, motioning for her to stop. "Who the hell doesn't know what a ty- ... what are you doing there, Elma?" Without a moment's notice, Elma smacked her in the back of the head. "Hey! What was that for?"

"They don't remember much due to the life-pod stasis. I don't think you should mention anything too Mira-focused." For a good long while, she kept that annoyed look on her face. Soon, though, a look of sympathy formed on her face.

"Gosh darn-it... well, talking with him is pointless!" Before I knew it, she just pretended I didn't exist. "So, Elma, you wanna come in? I got cake!" Elma paused, looked up to the sky, then back down to her.

"Sure. We'll even stay the night."

"WHAT?" I gave Elma a mad glare as she just stood there patiently. "But we need to get to NLA as soon as possible!"

"Look up to the sky, Steven. What time do you think it is?" Looking up, a great star hung directly above us.

"It's midday."

"Do you notice anything unusual about that?"

Thinking about it, there was something that bothered me. "It was sunrise when we were looking at NLA. It wasn't that long ago."

"Bingo. Time goes by fast here on Mira. By the time we make it to NLA, it'll be the middle of the night, and we can't travel at night." Realizing there was no way out of this, I looked towards Sharla.

"You know, now that I'm thinking about it, who's this 'Reclaimer Jason' guy. He seems like an important person." Sharla looked towards Elma.

"Does he know what BLADE is?"

"The basics."

"Well, in BLADE, Elma is a Reclaimer Colonel. Each full BLADE member has a title and a division they work in. Well, in each division, there is one who has the title of 'Elite'. The eight Elites have the power to take on any mission for their division, including ones that have already been taken, and they can work with other Elites to do amazing things!" A bit of dreaminess in her eyes sparkled when she thought of the Elite.

"Jason may not be the most recognized of the Elites, but since we're both Reclaimers, we have something in common..." As Sharla started to enter a deep daydream, Elma woke her up.

"Sharla?"

"...What? Oh, yes! Elma, you needed something?"

"We're staying overnight..."

"Oh, yes! Come on, Jaso- ELMA!" Recovering from her dreams, Sharla showed the three of us inside. As we entered, I noticed how silent Cross was being. She wasn't asking many questions, just standing there.

"Hey, you doing okay?" She jumped up.

"Oh, yeah, I'm doing just fine, Steven." Giving me a flustered expression, she just walked into the room, with me following me behind.

"Here we are!" The right half of the room was filled with beds and medical supplies, prepaired for the needs of any injured people. Along with the medical supplies were strange mechanical parts, including wire cutters, metal threads and a tool kit unlike the medical kit. On the other half of the room were storage devices and a refrigerator. Sitting on the bed farthest from the door was a man similar to Charles, yet he had shorter, black hair.

"Oi, Sharla, who's here?" Not even opening his eyes, he just sat back and relaxed. It took all the willpower I had not to flick him on the head, he looked so comfortably smug.

"It's me, Anthony." Elma quietly muttered, taking the bed closest to the door.

"ELMA!" The man nearly fell out of his seat, looking towards Elma, then me, than Cross. "Oh... seems you found the lifepod, Elma."

"Of course you wake up when someone else shows up." Sharla walked up to him and lightly hit him in the back of the head, making sure he at least felt it. "And they're staying the night, so make something to eat for us."

"Why do I gotta do it?"

"Because I'm busy catching up with Elma. Do YOU wanna catch up with Elma as well?" While very confusing, the answer to him seemed quite obvious. Without hesitation, he got up and walked towards the refrigerator.

"You know, Elma..." Cross awkwardly looked up towards Elma, catching her attention. "Do you mind if I just stay outside for a bit?"

"Sure." As Sharla tried to pull Elma back into a conversation, I quietly followed Cross outside. As she sat down on the two steps in front of the door, I took my place next to her, making sure to leave some space between us.

"Steven?" She gave me a look underneath a tired expression. "Why'd you follow me out here?" Getting comfy, I looked to her.

"You seem a bit distressed."

"I'm fine." As she slouched down, focusing her mind in her thoughts, I just sat there looking at her.

"Did you hear what I said? I'm fine, Steven. You can go with them." Looking away, I still sat there. For a good while, it was just silence and nature. The sounds coming from the world around us felt very toned down, fitting the mood.

"SKWEE!" A good ways in the distance behind the base camp, a small beast made a screeching sound that was hard to ignore. Remaining silent, I got up and went around the camp, looking towards the lake in the distance. In a corner of the lake close to us, a crowd of dog-sized beats were piling on top of one, probably trying to suffocate it.

"Finally! Something's happening this chapter!"

"What?" Knowing this was going to be a bit action-heavy, I reached for my belt, where a certain small dagger lay idle, ready for the hunt. "Hey, where are you going?!"

Looking at the edge of the cliff, I remembered something that Elma told me at Shadow Rise.

 _'You can handle the fall, if you wanted to jump off the cliff.'_

As Cross started to get off, knowing I was going for whatever the sound was, I broke into a mild sprint, before it became a mad dash. It was the first time I'd felt exhilarated since the Wild Grex, and I wasn't fearing for my life. Letting out a hardy laugh, I made it to the edge of the cliff, where with all my might, I pushed off into the air, soaking the view of Priordia in.

. . . . .

As the cool breeze of the great plains passed through my body, I dashed forward to the collecting pile of weird alien species. Out in the distance, I heard Cross calling me back, but I was almost to the beasts. Out in the distance to the left, two long-necked dinosaurs were drinking from the great lake nearby.

"SKWEE!" Now with a good look at the creatures, there were about five of them clustered together. Looking like purple cats with mouse heads, it took a moment to get used to them, but once I did, I went in for the intervention.

"HEY!" The four top-most of the creatures backed off a little bit, revealing a beaten down yet still living fifth one. "Get out of here! All of you! You should be ashamed!" While the scolding worked for a moment, soon the four cat-mice started snarling at me, shuffling closer and closer to me every second. Tightening the grip on my dagger's handle, the weak creature tried to get up, forcing one of the strong ones to lunge for it.

"No you don't!" With one fell swoop, I twirled with my right arm extended, knocking the beast back a good foot or two.

"SKWEE!" The other three started charging for me, forcing me to get into a ready position. Since my arm was already swung to the left, I flipped the dagger in the opposite direction before swinging my arm back to the right, knocking the final one on my right side down.

"SKWEE! SKWEE!" The two that I didn't get were side-by-side, ravaging on the weak creature trying to stand. With one fell swoop, I sliced on the front of the two beasts heads, forcing them to recoil. Once they froze in the recoil, I quickly slashed the two again, finally knocking them down.

"There you go! Assholes..." Quickly sliding my dagger into its place, I knelled down to the weak cat-mouse, petting its head as it slowly got up. Once it could stand, I could finally see all the scars it had, some even still bleeding an orangish-red blood. Looking at me, it gave out a quiet whimper before sitting down, relaxing in my hand. "It's okay, buddy. I got you."

"STEVEN!" Turning around, Cross stood there, holding one of Elma's rifle's. "What the heck? Those things just tried to kill you, and you look perfectly fine!"

To be honest, I was just thinking that was the loudest Cross had ever spoken. To say that I savored the moment was an understatement.

"Well..." She walked up to me, looking closely at the injured creature. Taking my hand off it, I let her pet him. Lightly caressing its furry neck, she let out a slight chuckle. "It's so cute... besides all of the scars. Was this the creature that screamed earlier?" Nodding in agreement, we looked towards the small cat-mouse, giving it a warm smile as it shuffled in pain towards my leg and started to cuddle it.

"We should get it to the base camp." I mentioned.

"Let's get going."

"Come one, little... HEY!" Looking towards the base camp on the cliff, a small crystal shimmered in the grass. "One of those crystal thingies... I forget what Elma called them." Walking up towards the slightly-levitating creature, Cross and I watched the crystal sparkle in the light as I picked it up, crushing it into my hand.

"It looks like a computer chip." I held up the thumb-sized chip between my thumb and index finger, holding it up to the light to admire it. Once I'd gotten my fill, I put it in my left pocket. "That's enough of that. Let's get cat-mouse and-"

CCRRRAAAAASSSSSSSHHHHHHH!

With a force so powerful it knocked me and Cross to the ground, something had slammed behind us. When I turned to find the cat-mouse, all I saw was the top-right foot of the long-necked dinosaur, with a ton of cracks surrounding the ground around it. Looking close enough, I saw the horrifying tint of orange-red covering the grass next to the foot.

"CAT-MOUSE!" Looking to the great beast in front of me, a hand grabbed my shoulder.

"Let's get out of here! ...Steven?" I didn't even need to look to know Cross was confused. I couldn't blame her. But I'd just been hit. HARD. I looked up to the beast, and its aura resonated with me instantly: it wanted to squish the innocent thing.

"HEY UGLY!" Shoving Cross' hand off my shoulder, I took out my dagger. Treading the cracked ground, I moved closer and closer to the large stump that quintupled me in width and destroyed me in height. Once I got next to it, I felt the texture of the beast's skin. Was like leather, but I knew it was thick.

"Steven? STEVEN!?" Without hesitation, I got into a crouched position, angling my right arm just before drilling the dagger into the beast's skin.

"BRING IT ON!"

 _And that's it for this chapter! Now I'm getting into the grove of things!_

 _Just to be exact, Arc:0 is two more chapters from being done! I have everything planned out! I just got to, you know, write it._

 _Please, if you like this series, show your support. Comment! Favorite! DO A DANCE JUST SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!_

 _...okay, that's a bit desperate. Just, do that cool thing, you hear? Until next time!_

 _(P.S - In this chapter, Steven brakes the fourth wall. I just felt like adding something called 'humor' to the story. While I try my best to keep this story focused on the world, rather than pop-culture humor, don't be surprised if I get bored and do that in later chapters.)_

 _(P.P.S – If you caught my P.S for my last chapter, I said I would get it out in a month, not two days. I just got into a REALLY GOOD writing grove. Since I have tough things in school this week, it might be a little longer before Chapter 5, but who know?)_


	5. Giahno Lake, Battle Ready!

**Can't Be Wasted**

 _ **TheRunawaySavior**_

 _Wow! I am on a roll! Get ready, because Steven v. Millesaur is a go!_

 _Welcome, viewers of old and readers of new, to my new chapter of Can't Be Wasted! I am TheRunawaySavior, and I'm really ready for this chapter. Got everything planned down to a 'T' with this one!_

 _Last time, Steven, Elma and Cross arive at the Shadow Rise Base Camp, where Elma meets a good BLADE friend of hers. When one of the three base members leaves, Steven finds out that the person taking his place is Jacob the Elite of Reclaimers, a top-tier Reclaimer who's respected among his piers. When Elma and the BLADE member go inside, Steven tries to cheer Cross up before a cry is heard in the distance. Following suit, Steven discovers it was an injured beast, who later gets squished by a Millesaur (or dinosaur thingy). With nothing better to due, and a beast to avenge, Steven prepares his attack towards the towering beast._

 _This time, the battle comes to Steven, as the Millesaur retaliates. Around the same time, Cross goes off to alert Elma and Sharla, with the battle only growing more powerful as time progresses._

As Charles approached the great gates of New LA, a bit of commotion around the area caught his attention. Walking up to the crowd that surrounded a slick, new skell, the young man nudged one of the BLADE members on the shoulder for some information.

"Hey, what's a going on?"

"Reclaimer Jacob is leaving to find the Wild Grex. His crew are making sure he has everything he needs for the trip, and it's quite something to watch." Looking through the decently-populated group, Charles instantly noticed a tall, well-built man within the center of the circle, boarding the skell.

"HEY! Hey, JACOB!" Diving through the crowd, Charles made it to the front, confronting Jacob just before he entered the large machine. As he continuously called towards the popular man, Jacob eventually noticed him.

"Hey, Charles!" With a warming smile on his face, Jacob hopped down from his position on the mech and gave the blonde a firm handshake before a quick embrace. "Buddy, it's been forever! How's the base camp?" Starting up a simple conversation, Charles tried to respond before a scientist came over to interrupt their good times.

"I'm sorry, sir, but shouldn't you get going? The sun's going to set within the hour!" Letting out a quick sigh, Jacob gave the man a apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, but I gotta go. I guess you need to go too, with the day almost over."

"You're right! Later man, and cool skell!" Looking towards the great mech, Jacob couldn't help but laugh.

"Man... where did the time go? I go from army grunt to an Elite with a freaking Ares 90! Of course they're standard issue for Elites, but still! I f only you could be there with me man, it would be the best."

"If only I could, Jake. I don't think the title of 'Harrier Elite' is going down anytime soon, though."

"But still..."

"Look, I gotta go, or Olivia's gonna kill me!" They exchanged one last high-five, before Charles made a mad-dash for the residential district. Looking up towards the Ares 90 in front of him, Jacob wiped the sweat off his forehead before finally climbing into the machine.

"Now, let's get to Shadow Rise... hopefully it'll be nice and quiet when I get there."

 _ **Arc 0: Prologue**_

 _ **Chapter 5: Giahno Lake, Battle Ready!**_

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Looking towards Cross in my uncomfortable stabbing position, I gave her a weak smile.

"Well, it appears to be quite obvious, Cross. As my dagger indicates..." Using my free hand, I motioned towards the dagger that impaled the dinosaur's skin. "I think I'm having a cup of tea with this guy, but I can't be sure..."

"Get out of there!" Backing up, Cross tried to motion me to come, before the slight buzzing of the beast's leg caught our attention. Across the monster facing towards the lake, its left leg closer to me was being raised high up, yet with little effort.

"Oh my... Cross! Get back!" Following my instruction, she ran a good distance away from the action, before the great leg collided with the ground. A massive shock-wave was sent through the ground, cracking every last rock in a good one-hundred-foot radius, along with messing up things around that. Even if it used little effort from the beast itself, the shock-wave knocked me and the dagger onto the ground, back first.

"Ah! What the?" Once I hit the ground, a sharp pain went through my spine, probably due to falling on the cracked rock. Shaking it off, I got up and looked towards Cross, who was making a dash towards the base camp, probably in hopes of getting Elma and Sharla to stop me.

Looking back up towards Long-neck here, there was still a lingering feeling of distaste coming from its mind. It would be hard to describe, but it was as though the beast was tempting me to give it a second shot. As Long-neck raised the foot I tried to stab into the air, I quickly lunged up from my fallen position, dashing into the blast radius.

"Let's do this!" As the foot was completing its accent, I made it into the land below the foot, where I planted my dagger in an upwards position on the ground. The moment is was in position, I made a bee-line for the fields behind the lake, where there were no giant feet in sight. Within seconds after I got out of the foot's line of stomping, it crashed onto the ground, knocking me face-first into the cracking ground. Several shards of broken rock hit against my skin as I tried to get up, cutting my face and palms.

"NYA!" A large cry came from the beast, encouraging me to get up. Looking towards Long-neck, it was in pain. A thorn had joinded with him and wouldn't let go.

My dagger had pierced through his foot due to the impact of the crash.

"NYA! NYA!" Before I could even react, the dinosaur released an onslaught of stomping. Each foot gave it's share in a barrage of powerful stomps that knocked me to the ground within seconds. With the ground cracking and the water nearby splashing out of the lake, it was the most powerful attack it'd given off. And yet, looking towards the beast, it barely gave off any effort.

Shard after shard of cracked rock and broken dirt chunk hit me as the vibrations of the ground seemed never-ending. The only thing keeping me protected was the thinkness of the pants and the prototype bodywear that I'd gotten back in Star-fall Basin.

The moment Long-neck quieted down his attack to rest, I bolted off the ground, backing up only as far as the cracks in the ground allowed. Looking back up, it now faced me, with the long neck it possessed reaching as high in the sky it possibly could, the main part of it basically pointing upward. Catching my breath, the moment was interrupted when the arrow-like tip of its head crashed down into the weakest part of the ground, knocking me back down with a violent thud.

It was treating me like a pest, trying to swat me away after I picked a fight. But it just killed a beast. Not for food nor for vengeance, it was just for the heck of it. I wouldn't let it just stand triumphant after what it did.

"Hey! Over here!" Jumping up once again, knocking the pebbles off my legs and torso, I bolted towards it body. Trying to swat me again, I rolled to the left before hopping up, using the power of its slam to lunge me a good few extra feet in the air. Landing on a flat strip of dirt, I pivoted back towards Long-neck before charging at him again. Rolled underneath his neck. Jumped before he slammed down. It was just like trying to hit a real fly. The only thing I needed to do then was rinse and repeat.

. . . . .

Cross really took her time trying to get help. No kidding, when I set out to rinse and repeat, it was only to stall for time until 'Elma the Sniper' arrived on the scene. By the time TEN MINUTES had passed by, and I was still acting like a fly, there was a lack of hope flowing through my veins that wouldn't be cured until Cross and Elma arrived.

"STEVEN!" Leaping up into the air once again, I noticed in the distance that Elma, Cross and Sharla were all armed with guns, and heading towards me at a decent speed.

"Finally!" Giving them a quick wave before diving in once again, I stalled until they got to me, giving them a moment to take my method all in.

"What are you doing?" Cross called to me as I finished my roll.

"Don't you get it?" I gave them a hardy laugh as Long-neck slammed the ground hard again, allowing to lunge once again into the sky. "He's hitting himself in the head! Once he hits himself hard enough, he'll be down for good!" Landing in front of the group of three, I gave them a thumbs up. "Just... you know, make sure I don't die, okay!" Dashing once again into the fray, I did my usual roll before a single comment by Elma changed everything.

"STEVEN! That's not his real head!"

"What!" Pausing to comprehend what she said, the extreme force of Long-neck's blow hit me hard, drving me into the ground with an indescribable slam. Throwing me towards the water of the lake, I crashed hard into the shallow area of the lake, forcing freshwater into my cuts and such.

"STEVEN!" The three cried over to me as I lay motionless, nearly unable to move my muscles from all the jumping and rolling I did before. The sounds of bullets firing towards the great beast didn't effect me, however, as the worn-out face of Long-neck hovered directly over me. As it stretched its head reached high in the sky, stretching up in preparation for a strong attack, the bullets still flied.

"You wanna beat me here, Long-neck? BRING IT ON!" At the height of its stretch, I felt the preparation. It was ready. Keeping my eyes steadily open, I watched as the neck slowly made its decent. It felt weird, thinking that I could either live or die just by what happened next. The possibility of death was real, sure, but blind luck can never be triumphed.

"STEVEN!"

. . . . .

"BOOM!" My vision was covered in smoke as a great explosion came above me, instead of the attack at me. Once the dust settled, I forced my back up in order to see what had just happened. The main body of Long-neck laid with little motion not twenty feet from the lake, as Cross and them cautiously examined the neck that fell off due to the explosion. Up in the sky, a flash of metallic black flew above up, armed and ready to attack.

"I hate to break it to you..." A booming voice came from the flying clump of metal. "But I don't think that a kid versus a Millesaur was a good idea. Just saying."

. . . . .

Looking towards the machine that saved my life, it appeared to be what Elma considered a 'Skell'. Standing about four or so times my height, the Goliath of a machine stood proud like a great warrior as the man controlling it came out of it's head.

"In all the time I've been on Mira, I don't think I've seen anything quite like this..." The man, with short brown hair and skinny glasses, hopped down from his control center before making his way towards me, as I sat on the ground covered in cuts and such. Taking the grass in front of me, he sat down in the same leg-crossed position that I was before continuing. "Why the hell was that Millesaur trying to kill you?"

"Millesaur? That's a dumb name." He let out a hardy laugh.

"I guess you're right." As the man got up, he extended his arm, and I gave him a high-five. Turning to face the group of armed females, he walked towards Sharla before giving her a strong handshake. "You're Charles' partner, right? Nice to meet you."

"Oh... well... it's nothing... really!" After letting the soldier fluster around for a few moments, he moved onto Elma.

"Hello again, colonel Elma."

"Good to see you again, too, Jacob. How's the position as Elite been working out with you?"

"Wait... WHAT?" Bursting into the conversation, I carefully got up, before shifting into the space between Jacob and Elma. "YOU'RE the Elite they were talking about earlier? That means you're one of the most powerful guys in BLADE!"

"Well, I mean, that's what the title says. I don't really like boasting about that kinda stuff, though." I stood there for a moment, looking towards the casual master, not knowing how to respond. He was though so highly of within the city we were heading towards, and yet...

"Well then... we should probably head back to the base camp. Just... keep an eye out for me, okay Jacob?"

"What do you mean?"

"Once I get to the city, I'm not gonna stop working my butt off until I can knock down a Long-neck with one attack! So watch out, Reclaimer, Jacob!" There was another awkward silence, before small chuckles formed from Elma and Sharla, with Cross following soon after.

"Well then!" Silencing the onslaught of snickers, Jacob extended his arm to me. "I guess I'll see you, kid, the day you beat all the Elites."

"It's a deal!" Shaking his hand, we exchanged confident glances, before turning back to the crowd of three.

"Don't you think we should be heading back, ladies?" Jacob looked towards the sky as it was losing its light. "The night will be upon us soon. Let's get somewhere safe before continuing our little chat." Nodding in agreement, the five of us took off towards the base camp, the wear and tear of the day all but behind us.

. . . . .

"OW!" Flinching in pain, Anthony the one BLADE guy at the base camp, held me back. "Why'd you do that for?" He gave me a look.

"It's just some SRCC, Steven. It'll help you heal those cuts faster. And don't move much. You've hit those rocks a couple too many times, so you need some rest." Lying back down in the simple patient's bed, I looked over to Elma and Sharla, who were continuing their conversation from earlier, just catching up with each other.

"So the recon mission was a bust?"

"In simple terms."

"Those words did not sound simple, Elma." Looking over to me as I lazily sat in the bed, the two women just stared at me blankly, as though I was covered in scars. Oh wait...

"Steven?" Elma called to me. I raised my head in acknowledgement. "Do you want to see what Cross' been up to outside? She's been out there for a while, and she didn't look her best when we got back."

"Wait!" Anthony made his way over to me, holding me back before I even got up. "I just told him to get some rest! Were you two even listening?"

"Nope." Sharla spoke with no remorse against him, making the man take a step back. "And give the kid some credit. He is still ALIVE, after all." The grown man gave me a worried look, before letting out a strong sigh.

"Fine. Just don't move much, Steven. The rest latter do you good." Slowly making my way out of bed, I shifted across the floor over to the door, before going through. Directly in front of the door lay Cross, sitting on the three or so steps leading into the door. Directly in front of the base camp lay a small patch of grass before two branching paths, and a cliff in the center, giving a good view of the ocean at night. To the left lay the path to the cit, with the right holding the path up towards the Shadow Rise cliff, where Jacob's skell was currently parked.

"Hey Cross." Not even looking around to see me, she just kept her gaze with that of the night's ocean, waving her hand in sign of acknowledgement. "Man, I can just feel the energy!" Letting out the remark, I took a step forward before sitting down on the steps, leaving the door open a crack.

"Go away..." She let out a quiet pout as I made myself comfortable. Once I stopped figiting, the silence seemed like the best way to keep things. The natural sounds of Primordia going into night just soothed the soul. Well, almost all souls.

"What's up? You're worse than before."

"I just wanna be alone, Steven."

"Come on, we all need company from time to time." She turned her head, giving me an emotionally-distressed look.

"I just want you to go away, okay!"

"Hey! There's no need to yell at me for no reason, Cross!"

"Of course I have a reason to be mad at you, Steven! Are you just that dumb? Is that it?" Giving me a pissed-off expression, she gave me a dark look that could kill.

"YES! I am that dumb, Cross! I really am!" Recoiling in a bit of shock, Cross scooted away from me, a bit embaressed. When she wouldn't look up at me, I kept my confident face on before shifting towards her.

"I'm... I'm..."

Just spit it out, Cross. Won't hurt."

"I'm sorry I said that. I didn't mean it."

"Well, if you didn't mean it, then you wouldn't have said it." Literally seeing her heart drop within her eyes, I kept going. "At least that means I'm getting close to the problem, right?" Keeping that dumbfound face of hers still for a while, she just gazed at me, as though she'd witnessed the birth of a star, or just watched the Season 1 finale of ' _Daredevil_ '.

"Y- you don't care? About what I-"

"Quite the contrary, Cross. I see this as the gateway to the problem at hand, in fact. Please, just tell me what's wrong." The older teen gained back her quiet cool, before looking towards me again, the look of awe still stuck within her eyes.

"I just... you see..." She took a deep breath. "Are you just doing this as an act or something?" It took me a second to realize the simplicity of the situation.

"What?"

"I mean, you wake up in a new world, with no family, friends, and the first thing you do it try to enjoy yourself? Explore? Meet new people? Fight a monster? It just seems unnatural."

"I mean, I technically fought three monsters. You just saw the third one."

"That's not what I mean!"

"I know. I hate to break it to you, but I'm just trying to be optimistic. I mean, I know things are bad, but they're gonna get better. " She let out a sigh.

"It doesn't look like things are gonna get better..." Reacting on an instant, I hit the older teen's head with my palm as lightly as possible. "What was that for?"

"Don't say things like that! We got the city to look forward to, from what I can tell the wildlife's pretty exotic..." It wasn't working. "... and you got me." THAT caught her dreary attention. "Let me tell you right now, you should've picked up that, if I'm gonna risk my life for a cat-mouse I barely know, then I'm gonna go through hell and back for you."

Giving me a refreshed smile, Cross scooted a little closer to me. "Thanks for that."

"No problem!" Giving her a quick hug, I got up and prepared to go inside. "Man... 'yawn' I really need to go to bed. See you in the morning, Cross."

"Night, Steven." Preparing to open the door, I let out another yawn before grabbing the handle of the door. As I tried to open the door, however, Cross grabbed my leg. "Do you hear that, Steven?" Pausing, I let go of the door, and began to listen to the sounds around me. Focusing hard enough, I heard the quiet whispers of the people behind the door.

"They're just talking, Cross." I whispered. "So what?"

"Listen!" Creeping my ear to the door, I began to listen in on the oddly secret conversation they were having. The first voice I heard was Elma.

"I feel bad we didn't tell him."

"It's okay, Elma." Sharla tried to comfort her. "It'll be for the best if we don't tell them anytime soon."

"I don't see why it's a big deal, Elma." Anthony butt in from his comfortable position on his bed. "Being different apparently doesn't stop the boy, at least."

"That's what I'm worried about." Elma replied. "If Steven finds out he's not a mimeosome, then that might push him even further. If he thinks that he can't live like the rest of us, then that might put him in a state of depression."

"There are others, Elma."

"I know, but..."

"It'll be FINE." Sharla wraps her arm around her shoulder. "He won't be a problem, Elma. Just keep in the city, and he'll be safe, if that's what you want. Or just let him be free... with no second chance."

"... Yeah. You're right."

Quietly closing the door, I gave Cross a concerned look. "What's a 'mimeosome'?"

"I dunno." Cross shrugged her shoulders. "But whatever it is, they'll wanna keep you in the city because you're not one."

Sitting back down next to Cross, a mix of sadness and anger swelled through me. "I thought the city was where I'd start my adventure." Taking a quick deep breath, I looked to Cross. "If I won't leave the city, then I'll never see Primordia again. I'll never be free again."

 _And that's it for this chapter!_

 _I wanted the second half of this to be part of the final chapter for the arc, but I thought it'd be better to simplify Chapter 6. Nothing too crazy, if you catch my drift._

 _Speaking of the second half, when I said spoilers a while back, I meant it! I'm going ALL out on this bad boy! But no worries, I have all explanations planned for Steven's 'lack of mimeosome'._

 _And one last thing, it's Spring Break! I wanna write the final chapter of the arc and be done with it, but there's something new that I wanna start soon. It came to me like a week ago, and I think I'm ready to start writing. I won't tell you what it is, but let's just say I'll wine and dine you with this one my palerino!_

 _Until next time, stay fresh my palerino's!_

 _(P.S – Dudes, Daredevil is THE BEST. Seals of approval all around for this guy. If you're able to, a must-watch series in my book, and with the second season, you'll have plenty to watch.)_


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